Food Television: Barely even on television anymore.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Food Television: Barely even on television anymore.

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Paula Deen?
	Paula Deen
	Paula Deen

The Midniter: Jul 9, 2001

Harrow posted:

What about Chef John? Is he still cool?

Chef John is still extremely cool.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 20:13

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# ? May 19, 2024 05:34

Democratic Pirate: Feb 17, 2010

From my ranch to your kitchen is peak wholesome cooking

https://youtu.be/BMCoJCGFmPE

# ? Jun 9, 2020 20:29

xtal: Jan 9, 2011; by Fluffdaddy

So is BA cancelled now? That would be Game of Thrones level disappointment. I hope they can make right under new leadership but it's impossible to watch the old videos without feeling a little dirty now.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 21:11

Doom Rooster: Sep 3, 2008; Pillbug

toplitzin posted:

This dude annoys the poo poo out of me.

Mostly his waste of meat videos.

No love for Life of Boris?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbS0HkS8Xsorrdr3pPk4lP80tUAzfyxP1

I had never heard of this channel. Pretty amused by the first two videos I watched, now kinda over the schtick.

Harrow posted:

What about Chef John? Is he still cool?

I loving love Chef John. He's great, and when I am looking for a good starting place for a recipe I haven't done before, he's on my very short list of trusted sources. That being said, in the last year+ it feels like his well has run dry, and 90% of his new videos are things that I have no interest at all in making. Chef John is The Simpsons, I think.

Democratic Pirate posted:

From my ranch to your kitchen is peak wholesome cooking

https://youtu.be/BMCoJCGFmPE

This is amazing. Right up my alley. Subscribed! This is 9/10 possible wholesomeness. PEAK wholesome cooking is Pasta Grannies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0TSVQRRYOY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gsdkg_-Ue0

# ? Jun 9, 2020 21:23

ShortyMR.CAT: Sep 25, 2008; Lipstick Apathy

I know a few of the chef have personal youtube videos they put out. I wouldn't say BA is canceled? Just the (obviously) higher ups that have been running things are the ones we should be mad at. I'm seeing some instagram drama being posted bout photos of Delaney with a confederate flag cake when he was 17 or something. He apologized and is donating his entire check to NAACP. I mean, I get that you wanna weed out all the "bad apples" but diggin up dumb poo poo we did as teenagers seems like a real stretch here. Unless you know...you were a literal Nazi or something at age 17.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 21:24

Admiral Joeslop: Jul 8, 2010

BA giving backpay to all those they screwed over and having a serious sit down meeting with everyone are the bare minimum. The BA chefs are in a better position to judge that though.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 21:29

Harrow: Jun 30, 2012

xtal posted:

So is BA cancelled now? That would be Game of Thrones level disappointment. I hope they can make right under new leadership but it's impossible to watch the old videos without feeling a little dirty now.

It seems like the response to everything coming out has been about as good as it can be, but yeah it's going to be hard to watch older videos now that I have a clearer idea of what I (white and privileged as I am) hadn't noticed before. Knowing that BIPOC editors weren't being paid for video appearances and were being shoved into the background of shots just to give the illusion of diversity is horrifying.

Rapoport stepping down within hours and all of the talent refusing to record new videos in solidarity is promising, but who knows what can actually come out of this. Even if they do fix their poo poo, in a best-case scenario, it's going to be a long process and I'm sure for a lot of people it's going to take a lot of visible, meaningful improvement before they'll want to watch any BA videos again.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 21:38

dino.: Mar 28, 2010; Yip Yip, bitch.

I soooo wanted to like that chef John guy, but that voice he does is nails on a chalkboard.

Mexican auntie over there making her food makes me happy. I approve heartily.

I know it�s not a YouTube channel, but a blog, but Hungarian Canadian granny�s recipes are all good:

https://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/

Glen and Friends has solid recipes too. https://www.youtube.com/user/legourmettv

And of course Wang Gang: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChrcDm7u2mF3II4F7idmXiQ

This guy also has good recipes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCntxIE8FKow3FbWG-BCApeQ

And don�t forget Chetna from bake off: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1VkNUPA6ieOuwXmk4SSJZw

And then there�s this guy who does historical recipes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsaGKqPZnGp_7N80hcHySGQ

All is not lost!

# ? Jun 9, 2020 21:59

ShortyMR.CAT: Sep 25, 2008; Lipstick Apathy

If you guys have 20 mins to kill and want to watch to dumb dumbs get drunk and try to cook something I recommend
OKs Happy Hour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdtcssTfCt8

They kinda cook food? They mostly get completely trashed and talk about...nothing and everything?

Not for everbody for sure but I find them entertaining

# ? Jun 9, 2020 22:21

Raikiri: Nov 3, 2008

ShortyMR.CAT posted:

If you guys have 20 mins to kill and want to watch to dumb dumbs get drunk and try to cook something I recommend
OKs Happy Hour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdtcssTfCt8

They kinda cook food? They mostly get completely trashed and talk about...nothing and everything?

Not for everbody for sure but I find them entertaining

Ahhh you motherfucker.

Off to a good start, thanks.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 22:22

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Harrow posted:

Knowing that BIPOC editors weren't being paid for video appearances and were being shoved into the background of shots just to give the illusion of diversity is horrifying.

That's a bit dramatic. It's also not entirely true, when Sohla said POC were not compensated for their videos.

Hawa said on Instagram that she got $400 to do a video. So did the people who weren't being paid, were they salaried employees just doing them as part of their jobs and not getting extra compensation? Or were they contractors (or employees) and just told "you can be in the video but we won't pay you, you'll be a Youtube star soon..."

I'd like to see some actual numbers, not sure how transparent the company can be, though.

Some test kitchen editors are on contracts with Cond� Nast Entertainment � the company�s video wing � and so get paid more and can spend more time on video.

They're going through Delaney's twitter now.

https://twitter.com/LM_Bets/status/1270449302469558277

Another VP or something at Conde Nast:

https://twitter.com/noahadamz/status/1270407681610625026

# ? Jun 10, 2020 01:48

Grem: Mar 29, 2004; It's how her species communicates

Ok I kinda always pegged Delaney as a piece of poo poo anyway

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:19

xtal: Jan 9, 2011; by Fluffdaddy

Grem posted:

Ok I kinda always pegged Delaney as a piece of poo poo anyway

The chances that someone is a PUA increases exponentially with each undone button on their dress shirt

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:24

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Grem posted:

Ok I kinda always pegged Delaney as a piece of poo poo anyway

What's the difference between this and saying "most recent black person killed by the police" was a criminal anyway...

Honestly, it's the same thing.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:28

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Grem posted:

Ok I kinda always pegged Delaney as a piece of poo poo anyway

https://mobile.twitter.com/hotlinebalingit/status/1270412752146903040

Also he is a horrible person according to Twitter because he talks about the joe rogan podcast

He apologized on Instagram (edit: for the cake he made at 17, not for listening to Rogan)

He also makes a whopping $75k according to Twitter with is pretty low for NYC but again, magazine writtters aren't exactly in it for the money. More than Sohla, however.

Bob Morales fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jun 10, 2020

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:32

Grem: Mar 29, 2004; It's how her species communicates

Bob Morales posted:

What's the difference between this and saying "most recent black person killed by the police" was a criminal anyway...

Honestly, it's the same thing.

To you...getting killed by police and getting outed as a misogynist on twitter is the same thing?

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:34

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Grem posted:

To you...getting killed by police and getting outed as a misogynist on twitter is the same thing?

No, but bringing up their past. This isn't even about Delaney it's about Rappaport. Just like when someone who's killed had a shoplifting charge five years ago it doesn't have anything to do with them getting killed/arrested today. It's a witch hunt in the same way.

"He seemed like a douche" is the same as "he seemed like a criminal"

Fixed without race. Same thing.

Bob Morales fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Jun 10, 2020

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:36

Grem: Mar 29, 2004; It's how her species communicates

I don't remember saying anything about his race but okay

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:39

xtal: Jan 9, 2011; by Fluffdaddy

Also another big difference is that nobody has lynched Delaney. Like get out of here with that dumb poo poo.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 02:40

droll: Jan 9, 2020; by Azathoth

Bob Morales posted:

No, but bringing up their past. This isn't even about Delaney it's about Rappaport. Just like when someone who's killed had a shoplifting charge five years ago it doesn't have anything to do with them getting killed/arrested today. It's a witch hunt in the same way.

"He seemed like a douche" is the same as "he seemed like a criminal"

Fixed without race. Same thing.

Bringing up someones past when they've been murdered is not the same thing as bringing up someones racist actions past when racist stuff tangentially related to them is occurring. You imbecile. You loving moron.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 03:59

flashy_mcflash: Feb 7, 2011

Starting to think that this serial moron isn't arguing in good faith

# ? Jun 10, 2020 04:36

Thom and the Heads: Oct 27, 2010; Farscape is actually pretty cool.

Delany tweeted like a lot of other shithead college 19 year olds did in 2012 :shrug:

# ? Jun 10, 2020 04:42

xtal: Jan 9, 2011; by Fluffdaddy

Thom and the Heads posted:

Delany tweeted like a lot of other shithead college 19 year olds did in 2012

Is there something you'd like to confess?

# ? Jun 10, 2020 04:47

Grem: Mar 29, 2004; It's how her species communicates

Thom and the Heads posted:

Delany tweeted like a lot of other shithead college 19 year olds did in 2012

One tweet mentions his coworkers at CN, that's not good at all.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:25

piratepilates: Mar 28, 2004; So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it.

An article by business insider with some more info dropped. Apparently it was being written even before the recent blow-up.

https://www.businessinsider.com/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport-toxic-racism-culture-2020-6?utm_source=reddit.com

quote:

Walker-Hartshorn, whose annual base salary is $35,300 before overtime, had not received a pay increase in her tenure as Rapoport's assistant. Aside from her editorial duties, she said she had cleaned Rapoport's golf clubs, fetched his son's passport, and taught his wife how to use Google Calendar.

So, once again, the Stanford graduate asked for more money.

"I thought this conversation might be different this time," Walker-Hartshorn said in a recent interview. After all, Cond� Nast, the parent company of Bon App�tit, had just donated $1 million to racial justice organizations amid global protests over the killing of George Floyd. And her boss, who had been checking in on her throughout the demonstrations, was aware she had been unable to pay rent for three months.

Instead, Walker-Hartshorn says, Rapoport told her, "Well, maybe you should consider that this is not the right job for you."

"I am the only Black woman on his staff," Walker-Hartshorn said. "He treats me like the help."

quote:

"Bon App�tit is an unbelievably hard place to work at as a person of color, and even harder for Black staffers," contributor Priya Krishna told Business Insider in an email. "That became clear to me almost immediately when I was brought on as a contributing writer in 2018. It's why I've never been interested in going on staff."

quote:

"There have been calls for years to diversify the videos, to diversify the staff, to diversify the content, but nothing happens," Rick Martinez, a current contributor to Bon App�tit and former senior food editor, said in an interview. "It's this same thing over and over again."

quote:

"White food is considered the most accessible and 'simple,'" Krishna said in an email. "Especially early on, whenever I pitched a home cooking recipe story featuring non-white food, I felt like I had to work twice as hard to prove that it deserved a place in the magazine."

"We're asked to make mac-and-cheese and baked potatoes and try to put our personal spin on it," Martinez said. "I realize you want numbers, but we would never put out that content to the magazine."

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:36

prayer group: May 31, 2011; $#$%^&@@*!!!

Yeah honestly I think digging deep in the Twitter archives to cancel Alex Delaney and coming up with him saying some pretty run-of-the-mill dumbass 19 year old white boy stuff eight years ago is reaching pretty hard. He's clearly a different person than he was then, he apologized in what seemed to me to be an appropriate manner, and he's handling it in a pretty reasonable way.

It is undoubtedly clear that BA and Conde Nast need to fix their poo poo about how they're paying people though, and Adam Rapoport being gone will definitely prove to be a good thing for them. That guy was the worst anyway.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:36

CatstropheWaitress: Nov 26, 2017

xtal posted:

Also another big difference is that nobody has lynched Delaney. Like get out of here with that dumb poo poo.

For real dude

On a personal level, I grew up with enough people who used gay as an insult in the late 2000's and other colorful language, but by no means would I argue it's not worthwhile to revisit that and flag it for how dumb it was.

The EIC lost his job likely much more due to the pay discrepancy and treatment than old photo. Delany might be a better person now, so we'll have to follow that plot thread.

Like, get that you're likely trolling but

quote:

Honestly, it's the same thing.

Christ. Calling out lovely past behavior is good. Assuming someone is a criminal based on their skin color and no knowledge of their past is not. This isn't hard.

edit: Yowza, yeah, this is the good kind of calling out

piratepilates posted:

An article by business insider with some more info dropped. Apparently it was being written even before the recent blow-up.

https://www.businessinsider.com/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport-toxic-racism-culture-2020-6?utm_source=reddit.com

35,300 in NYC is covering rent and nothing else. That aside, not getting a raise in two years is a joke. drat.

CatstropheWaitress fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Jun 10, 2020

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:36

droll: Jan 9, 2020; by Azathoth

One thing I want to point out, is that anti-worker-solidarity, anti-union tactics include sowing discord among the workers and their supporters. They want the workers to turn against each other and for their supporters to split/take sides that aren't against the management.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:41

prayer group: May 31, 2011; $#$%^&@@*!!!

droll posted:

One thing I want to point out, is that anti-worker-solidarity, anti-union tactics include sowing discord among the workers and their supporters. They want the workers to turn against each other and for their supporters to split/take sides that aren't against the management.

And that actually makes it even more exciting that all the BA test kitchen editors are pretty unanimously siding with Sohla and against the racist system and pay structure that's in place.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:45

droll: Jan 9, 2020; by Azathoth

prayer group posted:

And that actually makes it even more exciting that all the BA test kitchen editors are pretty unanimously siding with Sohla and against the racist system and pay structure that's in place.

Except now we're sniping Delaney. Someone else will probably be next.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:49

T.C.: Feb 10, 2004; Believe.

edit: beaten! spent too long formatting and stuff, but I grabbed the whole thing so I'll leave it here

So it seems that Business Insider already had a writer working on this general topic before the poo poo hit the fan.

https://twitter.com/nikitarbk/status/1270563683354247170

I had to copy and paste the article in a dozen tiny pieces because of all the ads, so let me know if I screwed it up.

https://www.businessinsider.com/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport-toxic-racism-culture-2020-6

quote:

Bon App�tit's editor-in-chief just resigned � but staffers of color say there's a 'toxic' culture of microaggressions and exclusion that runs far deeper than one man

Rachel Premack

Days after former Bon App�tit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport wrote in a May 31 newsletter that "food is inherently political," he again denied a pay raise for the only Black woman on the magazine's staff.

Ryan Walker-Hartshorn, who worked as Rapoport's assistant for the past two years and nine months, had a 24-minute phone call with Rapoport on June 4. She explained to her then-boss why she deserved a raise, or at the very least, a two-week vacation.

Walker-Hartshorn, whose annual base salary is $35,300 before overtime, had not received a pay increase in her tenure as Rapoport's assistant. Aside from her editorial duties, she said she had cleaned Rapoport's golf clubs, fetched his son's passport, and taught his wife how to use Google Calendar.

So, once again, the Stanford graduate asked for more money.

"I thought this conversation might be different this time," Walker-Hartshorn said in a recent interview. After all, Cond� Nast, the parent company of Bon App�tit, had just donated $1 million to racial justice organizations amid global protests over the killing of George Floyd. And her boss, who had been checking in on her throughout the demonstrations, was aware she had been unable to pay rent for three months.

Instead, Walker-Hartshorn says, Rapoport told her, "Well, maybe you should consider that this is not the right job for you."

"I am the only Black woman on his staff," Walker-Hartshorn said. "He treats me like the help."

On June 8, Rapoport announced his resignation following a furious outcry over recent allegations of racism put forth by several people who had worked with Bon App�tit.

The anger stemmed in part from a photo of Rapoport which circulated on Twitter on Monday, showing him dressed in a Halloween costume intended to be stereotypically Puerto Rican. Many called his costume "brownface," which Rapoport denies. In text messages to Business Insider, he said: "On the record: I was not wearing makeup or face coloring of any sort in that photograph." (Rapoport keeps a framed copy of this photo in his desk, according to Walker-Hartshorn.)

But according to more than a dozen current and former employees, the issues at Bon App�tit go beyond Rapoport. These employees told Business Insider that the problem runs to the core of the institution itself, claiming that Bon App�tit does not provide non-white employees the same opportunities on the brand's video side that white employees enjoy, that it excludes non-white employees from social and professional groups, and that it regularly misrepresents or does not represent stories from non-white backgrounds.

It is, these employees say, a workplace that treats people of color as second class to white employees.

"Bon App�tit is an unbelievably hard plce to work at as a person of color, and even harder for Black staffers," contributor Priya Krishna told Business Insider in an email. "That became clear to me almost immediately when I was brought on as a contributing writer in 2018. It's why I've never been interested in going on staff."

A representative from Cond� Nast said the company is "listening and are taking seriously the concerns raised by our Bon App�tit team members." To that effect, the representative said that the company is "accelerating" its Diversity and Inclusion report, to publish this summer, and a pay equity analysis, to publish at the end of 2020.

Business Insider spoke to 14 former and current Bon App�tit staffers and contributors about their experiences at the company. Seven are still employed by Bon App�tit. Each identifies as a person of color. Some spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

Five told Business Insider that the company has a "toxic" work environment, while two said the leadership is racist.

Under Rapoport's tenure, which lasted from 2010 until this month, Bon App�tit has evolved from a stodgy print outlet to a dynamic, beloved brand. That's largely thanks to its wildly popular YouTube channel, in which editors and guest contributors visit the brand's test kitchen to make recipes from the magazine or website.

The members of the Test Kitchen, as it's commonly known, have become veritable celebrities in recent years. Buzzfeed News, Vulture, and The Daily Beast have all written about the channel; The New Republic declared one series was "a Green New Deal fantasy." Members of the Bon App�tit subreddit sketch their favorite chefs and gossip about them as if they were A-list stars. Claire Saffitz, perhaps the most popular personality, has even appeared on Jimmy Fallon.

Buzz aside, however, non-white food writers have been skeptical of Bon App�tit and the Test Kitchen for years � either online or in private conversations. It's understood among those communities to take caution when pitching or applying for jobs there, according to sources.

"There have been calls for years to diversify the videos, to diversify the staff, to diversify the content, but nothing happens," Rick Martinez, a current contributor to Bon App�tit and former senior food editor, said in an interview. "It's this same thing over and over again."

The demonstrations after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed after a white police officer knelt on his neck, have sparked greater conversations about the responsibility industries and organizations, particularly media organizations, have to address institutional racism. In the past week, top editors at The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other publications have resigned after backlash from employees and readers.

For Bon App�tit, outrage spiked over the weekend, cresting on Monday morning when food journalist Tammie Teclemariam recirculated an old Instagram photo of Rapoport and his wife, Simone Shubuck, dressed up in what were intended to be stereotypical Puerto Rican looks. "#TBT me and my papi @rapo4 #boricua," the caption read.

Bon App�tit staffers publicly disavowed Rapoport's actions, and he resigned later that day. Rapoport called the costume "extremely ill-conceived" in his Instagram post announcing the resignation.

Since the photo reemerged, employees and readers have since found damning social media posts of other employees at the company, including Matt Duckor, who heads video programming for Bon App�tit and other Cond� Nast brands. After a Twitter user surfaced offensive tweets about gay people and people of color, Duckor apologized, writing on Twitter that there was "no excuse for them."

Another user tweeted a screenshot of a photo of a Confederate flag cake posted to Bon App�tit assistant editor Alex Delany's Tumblr. He and his friends made the cake, the post said, as a send-off for a friend who was moving to South Carolina. Delany apologized on Tuesday, noting that the image was posted when he was 17. "I cannot apologize intensely enough," he said.

The Test Kitchen was a locus for exclusion and toxicity

For many viewers, the Test Kitchen's content provides a respite from the tacky cheer of the Food Network or Buzzfeed's Tasty channel. In the low-key atmosphere of the Test Kitchen, on-camera personalities, including Claire Saffitz, Brad Leone, Molly Baz, and Andy Baraghani, share their creations and banter, giving a veneer of coworker conviviality.

But behind the scenes is a two-tiered system of pay, according to two sources within the company. Some Test Kitchen stars have contracts with Cond� Nast Entertainment for their own shows. Some of these, like Saffitz, are freelancers, while others, like Baz, are editors at Bon App�tit who receive additional income through Cond� Nast Entertainment, insiders say. Others only appear on the videos when asked, and they are not paid extra for the additional time spent appearing on these videos.

Assistant editor Sohla El-Waylly, who spoke to Business Insider on the evening of June 8, is in the latter category. She's paid $60,000 a year, and her current job description includes testing and developing recipes.

She was put on camera early on in her tenure, but for each one of the dozens of videos El-Waylly hosted or participated in, she says she has received no additional compensation.

Of the Test Kitchen's 10 to 15 most regular on-screen contributors, non-white faces include contributors Priya Krishna and Rick Martinez, test kitchen manager Gaby Melian, and editors Andy Baraghani, Christina Chaey, and El-Waylly. None of them, save for Baraghani, has their own show � meaning they're not eligible for lucrative contracts.

"It's odd to be held up as this one big happy family to the media when we are all being unequally compensated and there is an implicit understanding that white talent is more valuable than their non-white counterparts," Krishna said in an email.

"There is a big difference in terms of how they monetarily value the white employees versus the people of color," El-Waylly told Business Insider.

She said she asked Rapoport and video head Duckor for an on-air contract on numerous occasions. According to her, each time, they said they were unable to get one for her or that the contracts were tied up with the legal department � until she made her issue with the company public on June 8.

One hour after her Instagram posts, El-Waylly said, Duckor sent her a contract that would add $20,000 to her base pay. Duckor did not respond to a Business Insider inquiry about this claim or the others made in this story.

El-Waylly said she was "insulted and appalled" at the offer of $20,000, given that other stars allegedly earn much more over time in per-episode fees.

A representative from Cond� Nast pushed back on the claim that people of color on the video team are paid less than their white counterparts."It's simply not true to say that any employee is not paid for their work," a representative said in an emailed statement.

"As a global media company, Cond� Nast is dedicated to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace," the representative wrote. "We have a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination and harassment in all forms. Consistent with that, we go to great lengths to ensure that employees are paid fairly, in accordance with their roles and experience, across the entire company."

While some non-white staffers say they have have been financially hamstrung at Bon App�tit, others say that the spaces they were allowed to occupy were, in practice, limited.

Nikita Richardson, a former assistant editor, and Alyse Whitney, former associate editor, both recalled an email sent to employees banning them from the Test Kitchen. They believed it was directed at staffers of color.

One day in early 2017, Richardson and Whitney were chatting with Alex Delany and Brad Leone, two white staffers, about beer in the Test Kitchen studio.

Later that day, Whitney and Richardson received an email from Carla Lalli Music, then the food director and now an editor-at-large. The email instructed the two women, along with other staffers � all hidden from each other via BCC � to refrain from visiting the Test Kitchen again without permission. (In an email, Lalli Music declined to comment on the incident.)

According to Whitney, Delany received the same email. However, he continued to go to the Test Kitchen � seemingly without consequence. (Neither Delany nor Leone responded to requests for comment.)

For her part, Walker-Hartshorn said she would never recommend another person of color to work at Bon App�tit. But she said that she has made "a handful of lifelong friends" while at the company.

Others interviewed for this piece agreed: the friendship and networking opportunities at Bon App�tit, and the prestige of having that name on one's r�sum�, are tremendous. "I have a great deal of affinity for the brand, for the content we produce, and for the people that still work there," Martinez said.

But the amount of connections one can make at Bon App�tit as a person of color can be limited by the cliquey atmosphere at the publication, several former staffers said. "It's a very cool kid culture � you're in or you're out," Whitney said.

"You see your coworkers every day of your life and to go into work everyday and feel isolated is misery inducing," said Richardson, who is now a writer at New York Magazine. "Nowhere have I ever felt more isolated than at Bon App�tit."

From 'old and irrelevant and white-washed content to young and trendy white-washed content'

According to two current employees, Bon App�tit used to have a hyper-masculine atmosphere. Rapoport used to swing around golf clubs while chatting with staffers about their stories, sometimes breaking light fixtures, the employees said. They also added that some remnants of that culture remain: Those in the in-crowd call each other by their last names.

In the 2000s, and particularly under Rapoport's tenure starting in 2010, more women were hired. But the people Business Insider spoke to claim there was still little diversity among Bon App�tit's new hires.

"There's just a type of person who works there, culturally speaking," one former freelancer said. "Young, attractive, mostly white or white-adjacent people, and upper-middle class. Every time I was there I felt so poor."

"I think it's a perfectly valid strategy if there's diversity in the mix," Martinez said. "But [the magazine] went from old and irrelevant and white-washed content to young and trendy white-washed content."

Several episodes exposed the absence of non-white staffers � and suggest a lack of interest in getting diverse food right.

One Bon App�tit video in 2016 featured a white chef instructing viewers on "how you should be eating pho," which the site described as "the new ramen." (The video has since been removed from Bon App�tit's website, replaced with a note telling viewers to not harass chefs in the site's comments.)

Later that year, Bon App�tit again came under fire for adding popcorn and gummy bears to halo halo, a popular Filipino dessert. The editorial staff did not apologize.

As a Mexican-American man, Martinez felt compelled in his years on staff at Bon App�tit to keep producing food from his own ethnic background, even as he feared being "pigeon-holed" as someone who could only develop Latinx recipes. According to Martinez, Andrew Knowlton, then the deputy editor of Bon App�tit, once asked Martinez if he was "a one-trick pony" due to his focus on Mexican cuisine. Knowlton also told Martinez that his job developing Mexican recipes must have been easier due to his childhood eating his mother's cooking.

In a statement to Business Insider, Knowlton said, "I apologize to Rick, my comments were unacceptable and hurtful."

Krishna and Walker-Hartshorn both said they have repeatedly brought their concerns on the lack of diversity on the masthead, in the magazine, and on video to key leadership including Rapoport and Duckor. "My concerns were acknowledged, but I witnessed little to no action on this," Krishna said in an email. "Most big decision making meetings continue to be dominated by white staff."

Separately, according to emails seen by Business Insider, Walker-Hartshorn went to Cond� Nast's HR department in April of 2019 and March of 2020. She requested both times for Rapoport, her direct boss, to limit his texts to her on the weekend and the amount of personal errands he required her to execute � most of which were outside of her job description. In the second meeting, according to Walker-Hartshorn, HR instructed Rapoport to stop texting her on the weekend. He continued to do so. (Cond� Nast did not provide comment on this.)

A reliance on video revenue means complaints of diverse staffers are ignored

Current staffers of color say that Rapoport and Duckor, the video lead, are primarily interested in video for the revenue it brings in.

Bon App�tit's videos have become an unexpected cash cow for Cond� Nast, the illustrious magazine publisher behind The New Yorker, Vogue, Wired, and other hallmark magazines. In 2017, Cond� Nast lost around $120 million. Audiences moving primarily online slammed Cond� Nast, which had largely relied on print advertising.

The concepts for the Test Kitchen's videos are developed by a separate entity called Cond� Nast Entertainment. They're often geared towards what people are searching for online, or seasonal trends.

But according to Martinez, the SEO obsession within Cond� Nast's video team means the videos become, as he put it, "base."

As a result, he and others say say, Bon App�tit's top videos involve ingredients familiar to a white American audience: every way to make an egg, or a chef's attempt at remaking Skittles.

"White food is considered the most accessible and 'simple,'" Krishna said in an email. "Especially early on, whenever I pitched a home cooking recipe story featuring non-white food, I felt like I had to work twice as hard to prove that it deserved a place in the magazine."

"We're asked to make mac-and-cheese and baked potatoes and try to put our personal spin on it," Martinez said. "I realize you want numbers, but we would never put out that content to the magazine."

Such pitches from Duckor's team came despite efforts from people like Walker-Hartshorn, who started hosting regular pitch meetings to increase diverse content in the magazine and website. "They would still come with the same pitches about Martha's Vineyard and lobster rolls," Walker-Hartshorn said.

Following Rapoport's resignation, Walker-Hartshorn is still processing what it was like to work for him. One memory sticks out from early on in her tenure at Bon App�tit, when she asked Rapoport how he wanted his coffee before a run at Joe and the Juice.

He stared at her for what felt like forever, Walker-Hartshorn said. Then, he declared: "I don't know, like Rihanna."

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:50

Veskit: Mar 2, 2005; I love capitalism!! DM me for the best investing advice!

It�s pretty bullshit Cond� Nast is denying everything and letting the internet eat alive what amounts to immature white boy behavior. The company�s message and tactics are deplorable, not the fact that Delaney made an off color joke as a kid, and I say this as a black guy.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:52

droll: Jan 9, 2020; by Azathoth

Veskit posted:

It�s pretty bullshit Cond� Nast is denying everything and letting the internet eat alive what amounts to immature white boy behavior. The company�s message and tactics are deplorable, not the fact that Delaney made an off color joke as a kid, and I say this as a black guy.

Because solidarity is power and they want to break it. Now is not the time for Canceling some of the workers.

I expect more 'bad' things to leak about some of the workers in the coming weeks.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 05:56

CatstropheWaitress: Nov 26, 2017

https://twitter.com/JacksonKrule/status/1270330989353545730

Yeah, the recent revelations are a clear pattern. It's very, very good all this is coming to light. Hope they win the battle, or poo poo, find good homes otherwise.

It's a slight comfort knowing most of the folks Bon Appetit have elevated likely have large enough fanbases at this point to seed their own endeavors regardless.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 06:15

Fartington Butts: Jan 21, 2007

This is all getting delicious.

I guess Matt Duckor must be the guy who directs Gourmet Makes and is always throwing the ingredients at Claire?

# ? Jun 10, 2020 06:27

Tired Moritz: Mar 25, 2012; wish Lowtax would get tired of YOUR POSTS

_{_{(n o i c e)}}

Yeah this dragging of old tweets is super lame.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 06:56

The Glumslinger: Sep 24, 2008; Coach Nagy, you want me to throw to WHAT side of the field?; Hair Elf

I think it's a good thing that the forums search is so broken, because I know I posted some dumb poo poo when I was 18

# ? Jun 10, 2020 07:53

PERMACAV 50: Jul 24, 2007; because we are cat

The Glumslinger posted:

I think it's a good thing that the forums search is so broken, because I know I posted some dumb poo poo when I was 18

I really need to go light a candle in thanksgiving for MySpace eating all pre-2012 profile information; I hadn�t touched mine since 2008 at least

# ? Jun 10, 2020 08:03

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

A magazine company not giving raises in this day and age? Especially during a nationwide pandemic? How surprising.

BA isn't "weird food magazine", they are trendy and popular food magazine. They publish what sells.

Rapport brought....golf clubs to the office? Omg. Annoying boss texts assistant on weekends? That has never happened anywhere ever. If he was texting her anything "bad" and not just "hey can you get my dry cleaning" (which she obviously should t be doing outside of work) they will be released any day now.

So now Sohla makes $60k and not $50k? Or she was hired at 50 and makes 60 after being there? Still peanuts in NYC but it's nice to see the number changing across different posts/articles

Bob Morales fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Jun 10, 2020

# ? Jun 10, 2020 09:46

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 19, 2024 05:34

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Youtubers are making videos about this now

https://youtu.be/EZc1oQIqKL4

# ? Jun 10, 2020 09:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Food Television: Barely even on television anymore.

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